There are times when my faith is weak: I have doubts, I feel like falling into various temptations, and I feel more like moving backward rather than growing onward in my spiritual life. During such times, how I wanted to live in another time somewhere, a time when the world still believed in God and the people still sought for truth.
But I now live in a world that has become pagan once again.
In this world, people speak about lies as though they’re speaking the truth. In this world, faith is mocked and religion is ridiculed. It is a world where believing in God is likened to being a fool and being a Catholic is almost synonymous with being a self-righteous Pharisee.
All I need to do is switch on the television set or browse the internet to see what kind of world I’m now living in.
Instead of people praying to God, people meditate. Or they call upon the law of attraction. People rarely refer to God when talking about a powerful event happening in their lives. Instead of referring to God, people now refer to the “universe” as though it were a god who could actually hear them and do something to grant them their desires.
Meanwhile, the name of God has been reduced to a mere expression used when cursing. It’s almost impossible to watch a movie without hearing God’s name used this way.
Speaking about the movies, rare are the films featuring something good about Catholicism anymore. What’s in are those movies promoting promiscuity, violence and same-sex relationships.
Even the news is filled with events reporting anti-Catholic protests when it comes to the Catholic position of defending the unborn, the sick and the dying.
What has happened to our time? What has become of this world we’re living in?
The saints of the past have already been dismayed by the sins they saw during their time. How much more would they faint if they saw the kind of world we have today?
I wish more religious leaders would speak about the truth in our time. Not that they need to be harsh or violent. Not that they should see themselves as holier than everyone.
But we need people we can look up to like lights shining in the midst of the darkness we’re living in.
We need to hear the truth again and we need to be reminded of how lost we have become.
In the spirit of mercy, we need those who can encourage us to be different and to stand up for what we believe in. We need saints who can speak for our time and to tell the world what it has become.
In the light of all these, I recall watching Mother Angelica’s video that has been recorded almost thirty years ago.
In that video, she laments intensely about the kind of watered-down spirituality spreading in the world. Mother Angelica spoke frankly and intensely, with all the love and righteous anger of a spiritual mother who cares about her children. She did not hold back her words and she opposed the evil ideas spreading like a poison, infiltrating even the minds of the young.
“..we've swallowed this now for 30 years, I'm tired of it! We have swallowed enough of your idea of God. You have really no God, you have no Dogma, no doctrine, and no authority...You don't believe in the Eucharist, you don't believe in the Immaculate Conception, you don't believe in the virgin birth, you don't believe in Mary's power of intercession, you don't believe in religious life, you don't believe in being a spouse of Christ.
You do believe in teaching to little children of the third grade sex education, you do believe in forcing centering prayer and forcing inclusive language upon us...I resent you for trying to destroy the Catholicity of the simple and the poor and the elderly by your ways...I'm not going to accept that.”
“…you spread your errors to children and our children don't even know the Eucharist anymore. They don't understand that that is the Blessed Sacrament...that's the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus...your catechisms are so watered down they say nothing except love your neighbor. No, you got to love God first. You got to live with God in your heart, you can't give what you don't possess.”
“...we're the only ones that can be bashed to the ground and we say nothing...I am NOT gonna listen to what you have to say. If this is the way you want to live, my opinion is go and live it, but allow us to live our Catholicity and the way we have been taught, in the way the Church teaches...My community and I proclaim to you, into this nation, we are Roman Catholic...We have hidden under bushes too long…”
Mother Angelica ended with a Bible verse that warns against those who cause others to stumble in their faith:
“The Lord has something to say about people who do that, ‘Woe to those who scandalize these little ones. It were better for them if a rock were put around their neck and they were sunk into the sea.’” (Matthew 18:6)
If you are a Catholic, it’s almost impossible not to cry while watching the said video of Mother Angelica. It was recorded in 1993, and what has the world become 29 years after that?
You and I have the responsibility to do something while we still have time. If not for your children, for all the human beings that would still inhabit this world in the future. If we don’t do anything now, let us be reminded of Jesus’ own words in the Bible when He asked:
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, WEBBE)
FREE e-books when you subscribe to Single Catholic Writer - click here.
Loved this Jocelyn, Mother Angelica played a massive part in me rediscovering the beauty of my faith.
Well said! Everything you wrote is so very true, especially, "I wish more religious leaders would speak about the truth in our time. Not that they need to be harsh or violent. Not that they should see themselves as holier than everyone. But we need people we can look up to like lights shining in the midst of the darkness we’re living in."
I'm so glad you included the video, I look forward to watching it!